Alone Together
by scaredcrows
Summary: Leico one-shots and drabbles.


**A/N: I'm bored and I think leico is cute so I guess I'm writing this fanfiction. I apologize for any spelling or grammar errors, and then I apologize for the general lack of quality in my writing. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson**

For a long time all that Leo had was the things he built and well that suited him just fine. He liked to tell himself that his tools were just as good as any friends he had. They were there when he needed them and willing to do what needed to be done. Screw drivers didn't complain about how annoying he was and wrenches couldn't comment on his "immature behaviour".Perhaps the best thing about his tools was that they were rather useless without him there to give them purpose. Really, Leo was all about making useless things useful. Yet despite his adapting to being alone, Leo was not yet. completely immune to the emotions of those around him. So when he found Nico sitting outside of Percy's room, folded in on himself and trembling ever so slightly, well Leo couldn't bring himself to just leave him there. Not when Nico looked tired and scared and like the embodiment of everything Leo had been feeling most of his life.

"Nico?" He'd said in a tone that was both friendly and cautious. Talking to Nico was what Leo imagined poking a beehive with a stick would be like. He'd either walk away from the experience unscathed and with an interesting story to tell, or he'd end up completely and utterly screwed.

"What?" the word escaped Nico's mouth in one breath, quiet and soft, and for a moment Leo wasn't sure if Nico had really talked. _What_?

Leo had made his decision. He plunked himself down next to Nico, pulled some odds and ends from his pockets to keep hs hands busy, and he talked. He didn't ask Nico about what he was doing there or why he was shaking. He didn't tell Nico his own fears and his own reasons for being out and about in the middle of the night. Leo told Nico a bedtime story about a happy dragon and the boy who had fixed it.

Nico didn't question Leo either, despite his growing confusion. The two had never really had a proper conversation and more than often it seemed that Leo was scared of Nico. So why was Leo here now providing him with unorthodox comfort? It was a rather baffling situation, but Nico couldn't bring himself to try and stop it. Instead he sat there with his arms around his legs and his head resting on his knees and listened.

Hours passed and when Leo reached the end of one story he swung into another. Very few of the stories made sense as Leo was quite literally saying the first thing that popped into his mind. He didn't stop talking until his voice grew hoarse and Nico's eyelids drooped as his fatigue caught up with him. As Leo's final sentence, something about a cyclops who'd married a tractor, rang through the otherwise silent hall, the two boys found themselves slumped against each other and drifting into a short but nightmare free sleep. When Leo woke up a mere two hours later, Nico was already gone.

The next time they met it was Nico who did the talking. Slow, unsure steps had led him to Leo's room and it was with a slight flick of his wrist that he knocked on Leo's door. Just one small, quiet knock that he hadn't really intended Leo to hear.

Oh but Leo heard it all right. He'd been awake for some time, laying in the dark and twirling a pipe cleaner around his finger. He'd tried to sleep, really he had, but his thoughts chased each other through his head. _Get up and make sure nothing on the ship is broken, build something useful, make sure monsters aren__'__t attacking, move, move ,move_. Leo was to tired to move though, and so he'd stayed in his bed with futile hopes that maybe, just maybe, his eyes would close on their own accord and he'd drift to sleep. He'd had no such luck and so when that one small knock hit his door he heard it loud and clear. Leo had opened his door, expecting someone with a complaint about something or other. Whether it be attacking monsters or a problem with the ship, Leo had been prepared. What he wasn't prepared for, however, was Nico. There he was though, standing infront of Leo's door with a look of immense surprise etched onto his face. There was a moment that was filled with Nico spitting out excuses, "I fell," he'd tried to say, but Leo wasn't stupid.

With what he hoped was a playful roll of his eyes, Leo grabbed his visitor's hand and tugged it gently, "You can come in, Nico." Perhaps it was because he sensed Leo's need for company or perhaps it was because he was fulfilling his own selfish needs, but Nico found himself letting Leo pull him into his room. Then Leo was pointing at his bed and telling Nico to sit and he didn't even think, he just listened.

The room fell into a silence that wasn't comfortable or uncomfortable. It was just Nico waiting for Leo to talk and Leo waiting for Nico to talk. Nico broke the silence, he had come to Leo and so it was only fair that he tell Leo why, right? "I don't like being alone at night," he'd said, and winced almost as soon as the words left his mouth. He was Nico and he was the son of Hades. He'd survived Tartarus and was able to raise the dead. How pathetic was it that someone like him was plagued by nightmares and loneliness while everyone else slept? He waited for Leo to joke about it, but it didn't happen and instead he was left to make an utter fool of himself as words fell from his mouth like water falls from a running faucet. He tells Leo about his nightmares and about Tartarus and the panic that consumes him when he thinks about Percy and Anabeth falling to hell. The more he talks the more he feels the need to explain himself and justify his fears. When he finally runs out of words he is left feeling like he'd just torn himself apart and heaved the pieces to the floor where they sat in ragged clumps, inviting Leo to gawk at them.

Leo doesn't gawk. He wraps an arm around Nico's thin shoulders and pulls him into a one armed hug. "Nico, it's okay," he'd said, because it was okay, "I understand." Leo didn't see it but Nico's lips at that moment had twitched into the ghost of a smile. Not because he'd believed that Leo truly understood, infact he knew he didn't. For Leo to understand he'd have to experience the same horrors as Nico and so he'd prefer it if Leo never understood. Nico's almost smile had been brought about by Leo himself. Leo was someone who had things to be doing, important things, like running the Argo II and well, sleeping. Yet there he was at Gods know what time in the morning, listening to Nico blabber about his problems and trying to comfort him. So even though he knows Leo doesn't really understand, he leans into the half hug and whispers a quiet but sincere, "thank you". Though they didn't discuss it they knew that at that moment their friendship had begun. It was a clumsy friendship built on the foundation that they were both the outcasts of the group and being outcasts together was better than wallowing in their own self pity. The friendship consisted of nothing but late night chats in Leo's room as neither of them wanted to explain it to the others.

Sometimes Nico asked questions and they were never the type of questions Leo expected. Infact Nico is not what Leo expected. He'd always seen Nico as the spokes person for doom and gloom and so he'd expected him to act as such. He was both surprised and ecstatic to find out that, despite his dislike of social interaction, Nico was a pretty cheerful guy. So Leo did not mind Nico or his odd questions, not one bit. Until the night Nico asks a question that changes their friendship almost irreversably. Then Leo minds, just a little.

It is on a night that is not unlike the others. The two boys were sitting on the floor of Leo's room with a sheet of paper and a box of crayons set up between them. Leo was trying to explain some of the ships mechanics to Nico with a diagram. Leo is not a good artist and Nico can't tell if the blue scribbles are the "Things" or the "Doodads" but he doesn't tell Leo this. Leo was concentrating, furrowed eyebrows accompanied his squinting eyes as he scribbled his explanation in blue and red crayons. The sight made Nico's chest ache because it wasn't fair. Nico had had his crush on Percy and it had been terrible. It hadn't been heart filled eyes and unrequited declarations of his undying love. It had hurt, because Nico had known it was a crush that was both wrong and useless. Nico had hated himself for feeling the way he had about Percy, but he hadn't been able to control it. So he'd gotten over it. He'd stuffed his feelings into a jar closed tighter than the one he'd been contained in and that had been that. The jar had broke though and now all of his previous feelings were back, but this time the object of their affection was Leo. It wasn't fair.

He was terrified. Terrified that if he told Leo he'd lose him. If he lost Leo he'd lose much more than a friendship. He'd lose the few hours a day when he feels like he belongs somewhere and now that he's experienced such a feeling he doesn't think he can function without it. Yet, Nico doesn't think he can put himself through the same things he went through with Percy. It is the fear of doing this that spurred his question.

Nico's question was a kiss. It was his lips brushing against Leo's for just a moment and for that moment Nico was sure that he was burning. Consumed by flames that scorched him and left behind a pile of ashes incapable of making sense of themselves. Amidst that pile of ashes was Nico and he was both amazed and terrified by the effects of one feather light touch of Leo's lips. He pulled away expecting Leo to hit him and tell him that he is disgusting because that is what he deserved. As always Leo surprised him.

Leo's answer was his trembling hands, reaching out to grab Nico's shoulders and pull him close again. He doesn't know when Nico became such an important aspect of his life but it seems almost painful to consider a world in which their late night meetings do not exist. Nico was not a machine and he was not useless. He could and would complain about Leo's bad jokes. He had not fixed or built Nico and yet he had grown to care about him in a way that he'd never thought possible. He doesn't think he could let this boy go even if he wanted to.

"Nico," he'd whispered as the two of them clung to each other, "I think we're going to be okay."


End file.
